The officials were concerned about inflation but others argued inflation was too low.

Any rise is unlikely in the short term. Most Fed officials continued to believe it would not be appropriate to raise short-term rates until 2015 or later, according to economic projections officials submitted at their December meeting. They also argued that standard policy tools did not apply, as the US economy continues to feel the impact of the recession.

The Fed open markets committee (FOMC) minutes show the central bank is now assessing what to do when unemployment hits its former target.

“Participants agreed that, with the unemployment rate approaching 6.5%, it would soon be appropriate for the Committee to change its forward guidance in order to provide information about its decisions regarding the federal funds rate after that threshold was crossed,” the minutes state. The Fed was not specific about what those changes would be.

The news came as the Fed appeared to largely shrug off disappointing monthly jobs reports from the Labor Department; in December the US added just 74,000 new jobs. A report published after the Fed meeting showed continued weakness in January, with the US adding just 113,000 jobs for the month, well below recent monthly gains.

“A number of participants indicated that the December payrolls figure may have been an anomaly, perhaps importantly reflecting bad weather, and it was noted that the initial readings on payrolls in recent years had subsequently tended to be revised up,” the minutes state.

December’s disappointing jobs figures did not deter the Fed’s decision to cut back on its quantitative easing (QE) economic stimulus programme. QE is currently pumping $65bn a month into the bond markets, in an attempt to keep down interest rates and encourage investment. The rate was cut by $10bn after January’s meeting.

“Several participants argued that, in the absence of an appreciable change in the economic outlook, there should be a clear presumption in favour of continuing to reduce the pace of purchases by a total of $10bn at each FOMC meeting,” the minutes said.

Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics, said: “It will be harder for the FOMC to ignore the run of weaker incoming economic data at the next meeting in March.

“Nevertheless, we think it will continue with the taper anyway. Only if the weaker data continued into the spring, when it would be harder to blame the weather, would we expect the FOMC to consider putting the taper on hold.”